The unemployment rate in the European Union fell to 5.9% in 2024, the lowest level since data collection began in 2009, Eurostat has said.
This is a 0.2 percentage point drop compared to 2023, the data showed.
Among the youngest age cohort (15-24 years old), the unemployment rate stood at 14.9% in 2024, a 0.4-percentage-point increase on the previous year, while among those aged 25 to 54, the unemployment rate was 5.4%, (down 0.1 percentage points). Among those aged 55 to 74, the rate was 4.1%, a decline of 0.2 percentage points.
Long-term unemployment
Long-term unemployment, in other words, the percentage of people that are unemployed for a year or more, stood at 1.9%, which was also a record low.
Greece boasted the highest long-term unemployment rate in the EU in 2024, of 5.4%, followed by Spain (3.8%) and Slovakia (3.5%), while the Netherlands (0.5%), Malta (0.7%), and Czechia, Denmark and Poland (all at 0.8%) had the lowest rates, according to the Eurostat data.
The findings are based on data from the European Union Labour Force Survey and reflect both short- and long-term trends across member states. Read more here.
Long-term Unemployment Rate by EU Member State (2024)
| Country | Rate (%) |
|---|---|
| Greece | 5.4 |
| Spain | 3.8 |
| Slovakia | 3.5 |
| Italy | 3.3 |
| Portugal | 2.4 |
| Lithuania | 2.3 |
| Bulgaria | 2.2 |
| Latvia | 2.2 |
| Belgium | 2.0 |
| Estonia | 1.8 |
| Croatia | 1.8 |
| Romania | 1.8 |
| Finland | 1.8 |
| France | 1.7 |
| Sweden | 1.7 |
| Luxembourg | 1.6 |
| Hungary | 1.5 |
| Cyprus | 1.3 |
| Austria | 1.1 |
| Slovenia | 1.1 |
| Ireland | 1.0 |
| Germany | 0.9 |
| Czechia | 0.8 |
| Denmark | 0.8 |
| Poland | 0.8 |
| Malta | 0.7 |
| Netherlands | 0.5 |
